Gay club in central Ukraine raided by police

A popular gay nightclub in central Ukraine has been raided by police, with eyewitnesses claiming officers “behaved in a homophobic way.” Potemkin club in the city of Dnipro was raided at 1am on April 20. At the time there were around 30 people in the venue, alongside staff members. A published report of the incident said officers confiscated laptops, mobile phones and boxes of condoms that were found at the scene.

The article outlined the club’s “offensive” dark rooms and explained that “the activities of the club have been actively promoted on social networks.” According to police, the venue was raided in the aim of “combating human trafficking” and said the gay club received money for “disorderly sexual intercourse.” The bar was raided after appeals from local residents who reported their concerns to the local law enforcement, claiming the club was “abusive.”

 Police release footage of the Ukraine gay club raid

Officers allegedly inflicted injuries to one of the club’s visitors. The club’s owners and some visitors have filed reports on the “illegal actions of the police” to Sobornе Police Department in another town, Dnipro. Nash Mir, a local LGBT+ group, strongly condemned the raid, describing it as “obviously homophobic and illegal.” 

A spokesperson for the group said: “It turns out that the National Police of Ukraine considers sexual contacts of adult men as immoral acts. A regular activity of a night club (dances and shows) as a criminal offense, and distribution of condoms as promoting debauchery.”

The Nash Mir group added: “We want to separately emphasize that to prosecute so-called ‘distribution of pornography’ and ‘running brothels’ (Articles 301 and 302 of the Criminal Code respectively) is an anachronism in the modern democratic world and an instrument of selective pressure if this affects the voluntary actions of adult individuals.”

Source: PinkNews